The increased popularity of car surfing corresponds to the release of the Grand Theft Auto games and YouTube videos showing the activity, according to a study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
The authors of the study found that there were 74 cases of car-surfing between 1999 and 20008 in Iowa, Michigan, Ohio and Texas. They also found more than 350 videos showing children car surfing on YouTube between 2006 and 2008.
The group says that while car surfing started out as a byproduct of the hyphy movement, it āhas since swept the US, propelled by depictions in movies, video games, and in song lyrics detailing every step of the activity.ā
The big three to blame, according to the group, is Jackass, YouTube and Grand Theft Auto.
According to the study, and this handy-dandy graph, spikes in the number of car-surfing related injuries have spiked around the time of Grand Theft Auto games hitting. Though by around, I mean within a year or so.
When Jackass no longer airs and no new GTAās release, those injuries drop.
āDuring the years in which no new edition of Grand Theft Auto was released and Jackass was not aired, there was a coincident drop in car-surfing fatalities.ā
Seems like a weak link at best. Me? I blame Teen Wolf.
Neurological injuries from car surfing [The Journal of Neurosurgery, thanks Jeremy]
